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EAF Chicago Trip

Come explore the social foundations of education in Chicago's schools and neighborhoods! Twelve Diverse Field Experience Clinical Hours may be earned through participating. This COE-subsidized opportunity is open for credit to students registered in Fall 2011 undergraduate EAF courses* (228, 235, or 231) provided you clear it with your professor. If you have any questions, contact Dr. Lucille Eckrich at lteckri@ilstu.edu or 438-2048.
*These courses are supported in part by Illinois State University’s Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline™ TEACHER+PLUS urban teacher education initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Education and State Farm Insurance Co. Foundation. An overview of TEACHER+PLUS goals and enrollment information is located at: http://www.teacherpipeline.ilstu.edu/TEACHERPLUSpass.shtml

Cost to Students:  $80 plus food and personal expenses.  This fee covers all programming, lodging, transportation to, from, and within Chicago, and tickets for scheduled cultural events.  Deposits are due to your professor or Dr. Eckrich by 9/8 and are nonrefundable. Housing will be at the Bowman Center (a retreat center related to St. Sabina Church in the south side Auburn-Gresham neighborhood http://www.saintsabina.org/) or at HI-Chicago, a downtown Chicago international youth hostel (http://www.hichicago.org/).

Registration etc.:  Students should indicate their interest to their EAF instructor and Dr. Eckrich (lteckri@ilstu.edu) by Thursday 9/1. At that time they should obtain from their instructor or Dr. Eckrich a copy of a letter about the trip to share with any instructors of Monday/Tuesday classes they will have to miss, to clear the absence with them before nonrefundable deposits are due.  In order to secure a spot, participating students should turn in their deposit and the following information by 9/8 to their instructor, Dr. Eckrich in DeGarmo 324, or Carol Pfoff in DeGarmo 331.  Make checks out to "Illinois State University."  Space is first come first served, with a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 21 students.  Registration and deposits will be accepted until 9/16.

   With your deposit (cash or check made out to ISU), include a sheet listing:
      1. Your name;  email address(es);  campus &/or cell phone number(s);  major, and year in school; 
      2. Your EAF course and section number and instructor's name.
      3. Your preferences for the kind of school placement you want [i.e. elementary, middle, or HS; specific grade(s) and/or subject(s); and any other preferences that matter to you. Be as specific as you want and we will try to come close].
      4. Your availability for a pre-trip planning meeting in DeGarmo 8:30-9:45pm any night the week before the trip, Nov 7-10 (list all dates you are available to come;  Dr. Eckrich will then e-mail participants the time and place of the meeting).

If more than 21 students register by 9/8, we will ask for volunteers to bow out or else we will pick participants out of the proverbial hat. If fewer than 8 students register by 9/16, the trip will be cancelled and you will have to find an alternative for your diverse field experience.

Programming:  While the precise details are not finalized, the experience is likely to be more or less as follows: 

     Saturday will introduce us to some of Chicago's neighborhoods and cultural resources. In the morning we may attend the weekly gathering of Operation PUSH, the political home of Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition, one of the oldest African American civil rights groups in Chicago.  We'll spend the rest of the daylight hours exploring some neighborhoods by van and by foot, probably south side and near southwest side African American and Mexican communities, including sampling their food.  The evening will be spent experiencing Chicago's theatre and/or music scene.

     Sunday will teach us how to get ourselves safely around the city via public transportation (CTA trains and buses) and, in the process, afford us many spontaneous opportunities to interact with its people.  Following a working session to learn to read and use the Chicago street and CTA maps, we will venture out in small groups to find our way to our school placement sites, a local lunch spot nearby, and one or two other interesting destinations along the way.  In the late afternoon, we'll gather to share and process our diverse experiences of the day.  The evening will probably be free.

     Monday and Tuesday are in the Chicago Public Schools.  Traveling by CTA, we will disperse in small groups among different schools throughout the city (most are PK-8 or 9-12), including in Little Village, a mostly Mexican neighborhood where ISU's Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline efforts are focused.  You will spend both days in a school placement specifically selected according to what subject and level you are preparing to teach (we try but cannot promise to place you in a setting close to your stated preferences).  You may mostly observe or you may be asked to teach or assist, but if you are open, alert, flexible, inquisitive, and nonjudgmental, you will have a rich and enlightening experience no matter what.

     Finally, on Monday evening we will have an in-depth discussion over take-out pizza to share and process our school experiences in their neighborhood contexts.  We may be joined by some former and current CPS teachers and administrators and other urban educators who can listen to our experiences and respond insightfully to them.  Following this session we will attend a performance by a Barrel of Monkeys, a theatre company that works with CPS school children who write stories that the theatre company then dramatizes and performs for the authors, their schoolmates, and the public (info at http://www.barrelofmonkeys.org/).  We'll take off for ISU after school on Tuesday, wrapping up the experience and picking up some supper-to-go on the way home.

Assessment:  Each instructor will arrange with her/his participating students exactly how this experience will be assessed and accredited. In general, however, all participants will be expected to do the following:  1) Prepare for the trip by looking up information about Chicago, your school placement site and the neighborhood it is in;  2) Keep a journal during the trip that you will submit afterwards;  3) During the first class period following the trip, share about the experience with nonparticipating classmates;  4) Write an essay and/or create an insightful PowerPoint presentation reflecting on the experience (you can arrange with Lucille before the trip to borrow an EAF camera to take pictures for the latter);  5) Write a one-paragraph testimonial about the experience to be shared with next semester's potential participants;  and 6) To complete and submit a form evaluating the trip. For more details, see: Assessment Guidelines.
 

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